A delightful tasting at Oldenburg Vineyards followed by a last minute decision to change lunch plans for somewhere closer. We ended up at The Chili Oil, about 2km from the wine farm. What a stunning unexpected discovery.
Banhoek Chilli Oil Company, as the name suggests, make chili oil. Their menu is a small selection of low-key dishes that feature their product in an accessible and non-ostentatious setting.
We ordered a few starters – popcorn with chili, chili biltong and calamari served with an aioli featuring chili oil. The chili flavour is mild and won’t blow off the top of your head off unless you’re a complete virgin. For mains everyone ordered pizzas, and Annie and I shared a pasta.
They serve pizzas, burgers and pasta. Everything was brilliant. The pizza maker takes great pride in his craft, and the pizzas were perfect. I love a pizza with anchovies, olives and capers. Montannna is intolerant to just about everything so her pizza was gluten free, no cheese (yeah, it knew right?) and was still magnificent. The Penne Puttanesca was delicious.
The staff are amazing. I would hire each and every one of them if I could. Blaise, the manager was around all the time to make sure we were being attended to and to take our group pics, and Natalie, our waitress was the best!
Of course they sell a dozen different flavours of the chilli oil too.
It may not be a destination restaurant, but It’s a lovely little spot to grab a bite between wine tastings, full of all the right things you need to balance all that wine and very conveniently located in the Banhoek Conservancy.
